The present invention relates to heat generating material, particularly to reactive elements and molecules for generating a working fluid, and more particularly to a nanoengineered propellant or explosive and method of fabricating same from reactive inorganic components separated by an organic component, such as carbon, which upon detonation reacts with the inorganic components to generate higher temperatures, and produce a working fluid.
Organic explosives are well known and consist of atoms of carbon (c), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), and nitrogen (N), for example, that react at very high velocities generating considerable heat and expanding gases capable of producing work. Also known are explosives composed of inorganic elements, such as titanium and aluminum, which react with oxygen, carbon, or nitrogen and produce more energy than organic explosives or reactions, but do not generate a working gas. Also, reacting atoms of the inorganic components are not in intimate contact as in organic explosive molecules, and therefore the explosive reaction velocities of the organic explosives are not achieved.
Thus, there is a need in the art for an explosive which has the capability of producing heat and expanding gases capable of producing work, as in explosives and propellants using organic components, while having the energy producing capability of explosives using inorganic components. Such a need is satisfied by the present invention which uses thin multilayer structures composed of an organic component, such as carbon, for separating reactive inorganic components, and which reacts or detonates to generate higher temperatures and produce a working fluid. By way of example, a multilayer structure may be composed of a plurality of alternating thin (.gtoreq.10 .ANG.) layers titanium (Ti) and copper oxide (CuO) with thin (.gtoreq.10 .ANG.) layers of carbon (C) between the layers of Ti and CuO, the layers being deposited by vapor deposition techniques.